When You Lose Your Footing It Might Be Hard To Get Up
by Mademoiselle Snowflake
Summary: Pavel's oldest sister has been beamed up and he's looking forward to meeting her again after years of not seeing any family members. However, the Enterprise encounters space turbulence and Pavel gets hurt. And on top of that, he gets some bad news. Could the day get worse?


**A/N: It's been ages since I've published anything in here and the first time I publish anything Star Trek related. I hope you will enjoy my story and maybe even let me know what you liked/didn't like in it!**

* * *

Things had been running smoothly during that shift. Nothing unexpected had happened and the next shift was about to take over and Pavel was honestly glad about that since however nice the chairs in the Enterprise were, they made him hurt. And besides, he was quite hungry and his oldest sister, Olga, who had just graduated from Starfleet had been beamed up on the Enterprise to start working as a linguistics and communications officer under lieutenant Uhura. Pavel was eager to meet her since he hadn't seen any family members since the five-year-mission had started eighteen months before.

"You seem happier than usual", Sulu remarked as they were letting the next shift take over their posts. Pavel grabbed the photo he had of Galina, his youngest big sister, at the navigation desk and nodded.

"I am!" he told with a huge smile on his face. "My oldest sister has been posted here on the Enterprise to work under lieutenant Uhura in communications and linguistics. I haven't seen any of my family members since the beginning of the five-year-mission so it makes me very happy that she will work here now."

"That sounds nice", Sulu laughed as they entered the turbolift. "When is she coming here?"

"She was beamed up about an hour ago", Pavel explained. "We agreed to meet up at the dinner and then I could show her around the ship for a bit so that she doesn't get lost when she starts working here."

"Who are you talking about?" asked Kirk who had been eavesdropping the conversation for a while now. "Don't tell me you know the new person in communications?"

"Pavel does", Sulu told. "She is his oldest sibling, apparently."

"But isn't she over ten years older than you?" Kirk asked. "How many siblings do you have, exactly?"

"I had five older siblings", Pavel explained. "But the youngest of my older siblings died when I was ten so now I have only four older siblings."

"I'm so sorry", Sulu breathed. "Is that her in the photo you carry? How did she die?"

"Yes, it is her in the photo", Pavel told and showed Kirk and Sulu his photo of a thirteen-year-old Galina Chekova. "It was taken about a year before she fell ill and died. There was an outbreak of whooping cough in the area where we lived since many people there were against vaccines and hadn't vaccinated their children. Galina was allergic to the vaccine so she hadn't been vaccinated either… It really seems kind of unfair that only one of the children who weren't vaccinated because of then ignorance of their parents died when Galina who couldn't get the vaccine because of her allergy had to die too…"

"I'm so sorry", Kirk said and put his hand on Pavel's shoulder.

"It's alright now, captain", Pavel said with a small smile as they walked out of the turbolift. "I still have my other siblings and I have all the great memories with Galina."

"It's good that you can see it that way", Kirk said. "Well, gentlemen, are you going to eat now? This shift sure felt longer than normally and I'm starving!"

"You bet, captain!" Pavel laughed. "Olga is probably waiting down there already so I better hurry!"

As they were making their way to the mess hall, the Enterprise suddenly leaned to the left. Pavel suddenly had nothing under his feet and he managed to register that he was falling only seconds before he slammed into the wall and hit his head on it with an audible crack that sounded like something that _definitely_ shouldn't come from your head hitting a wall. (Of course there was the fact that your head wasn't supposed to hit a wall but Pavel chose to ignore it.) There was pain radiating into Pavel's skull from the area where his head had hit the wall which made it hard for Pavel to realise that the Enterprise had straightened again.

"Are you alright, Mr. Chekov?" Kirk asked when he reached Pavel, who was sitting on the floor, holding his head. "That was quite the sound that came out when you hit your head."

"I am, captain", Pavel reassured Kirk. "I think I just hit my head…"

"Yes, and I bet Bones could hear it over at the Sickbay", Kirk joked. "Shouldn't you go to get yourself checked up there?"

"Nyet, captain", Pavel said. "I'm not feeling too weird so I'd prefer to eat first. I'll go get checked up afterwards, I promise."

"If you say so", Kirk said and patted Pavel's shoulder. He then turned to a communicator and opened it. "Captain to Bridge, is everything alright?"

" _Yes, sir_ ", the Bridge answered. " _We had to dodge a rapidly moving object, sir, but everything's fine now. It was probably just space rubbish._ "

"What do you mean?" Kirk asked. "We aren't in any kind of orbit right now."

" _I can't think of any other explanations_ ", the officer at the Bridge answered. " _We're investigating it now. Bridge over._ "

"That was weird", Sulu said while helping Pavel get up.

"Well, whatever it was, it's over now, isn't it?" Pavel remarked. "Let's not worry too much about it unless it turns out to be something we should worry about."

"I have to agree with you since I'm starving", Kirk laughed. "I hope no one got hurt during this, though…"

"Let's hope so", Pavel agreed. "And if anyone got hurt, I hope they aren't as stubborn as I am about going to the sickbay."

"I hope so too", Sulu laughed as they entered the mess hall. They went straight to the food synthesizers to get the food before looking for Pavel's sister. As Pavel waited for the synthesizer to get its job done, he looked around and spotted a mess of curly hair that could be his sister. As he tried to wave his hands to get the person's attention, Bones had appeared to the synthesizer right behind Pavel and he was talking to Kirk. When the synthesizer had finally finished giving Pavel the salmon soup he had asked for, he grabbed the tray and turned to Kirk.

"I think that person over there is Olga, I will go check so you won't have to wait", Chekov told and almost managed to leave before his vision started swimming. He suddenly felt like he couldn't control his body at all.

Then everything was just black.

* * *

Pavel woke up to a weird mechanical beeping and a hand stroking his hair. First he couldn't really tell who it was but soon he could recognise the face of his oldest sister, Olga Chekova. She had a red uniform on her and her hair was long and even curlier than Pavel's. She also had the kindest yet a very sad smile on her face when she looked at Pavel.

" _Hey there_ ", Pavel mumbled in Russian and smiled weakly. " _What happened?_ "

" _You fainted and fell over at the mess hall_ ", Olga explained. " _The captain and Mr. Sulu told me you fell and hit your head badly. According to the doctor you have a concussion._ "

" _Oh man…_ " Pavel whispered. " _It really didn't feel that bad…_ "

Doctor McCoy chose that moment to appear to Pavel's bedside, frowning as always.

"Be glad that you didn't get hurt any worse, kid", he grumbled. "You should have come to the sickbay right away to be checked. Now you've scared your sister and I've lost a meal."

"Don't worry about him, Mr. Chekov", said Kirk who had followed doctor McCoy. "Bones is just grumpy because he was right behind you and instinctively dropped his food when you fell over and now he's hungry."

"Oh… I'm sorry?" Pavel asked.

"Just make sure you get checked up the next time something like this happens, kiddo", McCoy said and ruffled Pavel's hair. He then left with Kirk, leaving Pavel with Olga, while he and Kirk retreated to his office where Spock had been waiting for them.

"Jesus that kid gives me headache", McCoy grumbled. "Why didn't you force him to come here right when he had hit his head, Jim?"

"He seemed quite normal right after it so I thought nothing bad had happened", Kirk told McCoy.

"That was quite irresponsible, Captain", Spock announced. "But then again, the mistake was a very common and understandable one so we shouldn't blame the captain or Mr. Chekov."

"Yes, and besides we got to have our dinner in the doctor's office", Kirk laughed. "How long are you going to keep Chekov here? Surely his concussion isn't bad enough to warrant keeping him here for long?"

"Well, the kid was out of it for over an hour so I'd rather monitor him overnight", McCoy said and shrugged. "Head injuries can be a bitch, you know."

Suddenly there was a lot of noise from outside the office and some yelling could be heard in Russian. McCoy could have sworn he heard Olga call out " _Pasha_ " and something else in Russian. Then the automatic door could be heard opening and closing and everything went really quiet.

McCoy was the first one to get out of his office and he was met with an empty bed where Pavel had been laying only minutes ago, while Olga was staring at the door like she had been frozen on her tracks.

"What happened here?" McCoy asked. "Where is Chekov?"

"He ran…" Olga stammered. "Oh, dear god, I shouldn't have told him yet…"

"What do you mean?" Kirk asked as he knelt down next to Olga who had slid down on the floor. "What did you tell him?"

"Our father died about a week ago", Olga told quietly. "I hadn't told him yet since this kind of things are better to be told face-to-face… Oh, why was I so stupid to not wait until he was better?"

"Dammit!" McCoy cursed and kicked the bed. How could he not have left some supervision on the kid?

"Calm down, Bones, kicking beds won't help anyone now!" Kirk ordered.

"Calm down?" McCoy retorted. "Dammit, Jim; I'm a doctor and my concussed patient who has just lost his father has gone _missing_! He might be anywhere on the damn ship and with that concussion we can't just tell what he will do!"

"I know but getting mad will only make the situation seem worse!" Kirk argued. "We need to go find him now, not argue like this!"

"Computer, locate ensign Chekov", Spock's voice ordered from behind the arguing officers.

" _Ensign Chekov located_ ", the computer answered immediately. " _Currently on the turbolift heading to the stargazing deck._ "

"I'm going", McCoy said, grabbing a quilt as soon as the computer quietened. "You all will stay here in case the kid decides to return here."

 _Damn that kid and all this_ , McCoy thought. _Why must everyone here be so pig-headed? And why the hell must everything bad always happen at once?_

"The stargazing deck!", McCoy almost shouted as he got into the turbolift. "As fast as possible!"

The lift ride felt awfully slow to the doctor. God, the kid could have done anything by now. Wasn't this damn ship supposed to be new and modern? One would think that the turbolifts would be faster on the newer ships…

When the doors finally opened, McCoy's heart almost stopped. On the far side of the deck he could see a very unmoving dark bundle and for a second he feared the worst. He knew fully well that Pavel had no previous signs of depression or being suicidal but dammit, the kid could have been gotten hurt or something.

McCoy got to Pavel very fast and as soon as he was at the ensign's side, he realised that he was fully awake. Pavel's eyes were quite shiny, possibly because of unshed tears and he was holding something that looked suspiciously like a photo album on his chest. McCoy sat down next to Pavel who didn't acknowledge the doctor at all.

"What is it, kid?" McCoy asked quietly. "Are you cold?"

Pavel nodded slowly and sniffed. McCoy smiled sadly and helped the ensign up and wrapped the quilt around his rather slim body and let Pavel lean on his side for warmth.

"My father died", Pavel whispered. "Olga told me that it was a mutated virus that killed him."

"I'm so sorry, kid", McCoy said and wrapped his right arm around Pavel's shoulder. "Was he old?"

"Yes", Pavel told. "He was almost seventy and he'd been sick as of late. He'd just recovered from a bad pneumonia…"

"He must have been a fighter", McCoy remarked. "Most people can't beat bad pneumonia at that age."

"He was", Pavel agreed. "He was always catching whatever flu or illness was circulating around so he was at home a lot and it made him retire early…"

"So was he at home during your childhood?" McCoy asked.

"He retired when I was ten years old", Pavel told. "I guess when Galina died, he couldn't go on at work anymore. He was a pharmacist so having his youngest daughter die from an illness that she hadn't been vaccinated to seemed somehow shameful to him even though it was because Galina had been allergic to the vaccine…"

"Was Galina your sister?" McCoy asked as gently as he could.

"Yes", Pavel said. "She was four years older than me but there was an outbreak of whooping cough and we lived in an area where most of the families were very much against vaccines which is why Galina got the infection… Why do the kindest people always have to die first, doctor?"

"I don't know, kiddo", McCoy sighed. "Trust me, I would tell you if I did…"

"When I was fourteen, my father found me filling a form to enlist to the Starfleet", Pavel told suddenly after a short silence. McCoy held his breath so the ensign wouldn't stop telling whatever he was about to tell. "He got really mad at me and we got into a huge fight. A month after that I ran away from home to enlist to the Starfleet and I wouldn't talk to father for over a month… We did reconcile and we used to talk a lot with our PADDs but after the Khan incident he really wanted me to come back home… He kept telling me how the world was so dangerous and how he just wanted me to be safe…"

"That means he loved you", McCoy explained.

"I miss him…" Pavel whispered and buried his face on his knees and started shaking. McCoy was sure he could hear quiet sobs but he decided to ignore them and to rub Pavel's back in hopes of making him feel even slightly better.

"I bet he's very proud of you", McCoy said after a while. "He would be a fool not to be proud of you, in my honest opinion. If I had a son, I'd wish he was kind and enthusiastic like you."

"I was proud of him", Pavel whispered with a thick voice. "I was so proud every time he would beat another illness and when he would make fruit breakfasts for us. And every time he would bake our birthday cakes. He would even make different cakes for Anatoli and Aleksei to make both of them feel special…"

"I bet you were", McCoy chuckled. "How about you come back to the sickbay with me? I bet Jim is sick with worry and you seem to be tired so we better get you back there before you fall asleep on me."

Pavel chuckled weakly and made to stand up, only to wobble back down. McCoy had to stand up first and then help Pavel up and make sure that he wouldn't fall while he walked. They got back to the sickbay without problems and as soon as the automatic doors opened, Pavel had armful of Olga attack him which made him almost fall over. McCoy caught the two and helped Pavel back to the bed while he himself sat down at the vacant desk.

"Are you going to tell me you're going to keep an eye on Mr. Chekov all night?" Kirk joked.

"Not the whole night", McCoy said. "A nurse will later come to take over for me but I might as well stay here with him for some time and keep him company since he'll have to stay awake for most of the night anyway."

Pavel smirked at the doctor while trying to reassure Olga that he would be fine with the doctor's supervision.

Tomorrow everything would feel a bit better.


End file.
